Enhanced 311 Center Moves to Room 311 in City County Building

Communications Director

Enhanced 311 Center Moves to Room 311 in City County Building

Posted: 06/07/2016

The City of Knoxville’s 311 Center has moved to a new location: Room 311 on the third floor of the City County Building. The space was vacated when the Parks and Recreation Department relocated and consolidated its services at Lakeshore Park.

“The next-generation 311 Center will offer one-stop shopping for citizens,” said Christi Branscom, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy to the Mayor. “The new 311 can truly be viewed as the front door to the City.”

Signs throughout the City County Building will direct citizens needing assistance to Room 311. Once a citizen arrives, he or she can get personalized one-on-one help with any issue or question – whether that means picking up information on KAT bus routes or a greenways map or building inspections forms, or simply getting directions to the right office.

By calling or visiting 311, citizens can request help or report any problem involving City services – a pothole needing to be patched, or an overgrown lot or derelict property that’s due for an inspection.

Starting last summer, the 311 Center staff also has been handling calls to East Tennessee’s 211 help line, which is funded by United Way organizations across the region to provide referrals to local non-governmental organizations offering community services to people in need.

More than 200,000 311 calls are fielded each year. So far in 2016, more than 12,000 people have called the 211 help line.

One-on-one help sessions with citizens physically coming into the 311 Call Center will present a new opportunity to connect citizens with City resources, and 311 Director Russ Jensen said his staff is well-trained and eager to provide “concierge services” – all without any increase in operational funding.

“People can feel overwhelmed when they enter the City County Building,” Jensen said. “There’s been no one designated to help them find their way. With the 311 Center relocated to Room 311, we’ll be able to personally help people navigate to where they need to be.”

The new third-floor space also will house City Ambassadors, which is an employee-driven program that aims to improve internal and external customer service throughout City government. Jensen also has created a library with customer service training materials.

A side door to the new 311 Center is right next to a spiral staircase leading up to the fourth floor. A bank of elevators is about 25 steps away from the front door.

“We’re strategically located,” Jensen said, “to provide a direct connection to the fourth floor and most of the services that people are looking for when they come to the building – codes, Inspections, permits, zoning, Engineering and the tax offices.”